Past Seasons Talk

[SnideAsides]

How were they any worse than Michael/Louie or Caite/Brent?

 

Louie/Michael and Brent/Caite weren't eliminated third, for one. (Also, I seem to recall finding the "momtrepreneur" angle particularly obnoxious.)

 

I'm not sure why it's so necessary to bring up a forgotten early-boot team (and seriously, there are only about two less memorable teams in this show's history) who were an afterthought in their own boot episode when there was already so much else in the original post.

[Vyas]

The context clearly implied worse in the sense of personality rather than placement, or are Don/MaryJean and Gus/Hera each inferior to Jonathan/Victoria? Furthermore, it's oxymoronic to be simultaneously obnoxious and unmemorable.

 

I already included why Monique/Shawne deserve mention: "a tragic example of a strong team taken out earlier than warranted". The original post is by definition incomplete in describing 10 out of 11.

[Bella]

Let's stop bickering about details.

 

Thanks.

[Kara]

I didn't start watching until the Globetrotters first season. I just discovered I can watch previous seasons on Amazon, so have been binge watching. I really liked the first 3 seasons. I am watching season 4, and it is by far my least favorite. The clowns are the only likable team. And I am shocked and disappointed that tptb would force female contestants into a situation where they would almost certainly be sexually assaulted. Indian public transportation has long been notorious for sexual assault. Only in the past couple years has it gotten wider attention, but it was well known by seasoned travellers for years, and never should have been allowed to happen.

[Donny Ketchum]

It's a season where the bad outweighed the good

Were we watching the same season?  In what way did the bad outweigh the good in TAR25?  That easily had more good than bad in it.  Easily.

[Vyas]

S25 gets a solid grade of A-/90% - just a few things do keep it out of the Top 5 (i.e. Classic/S3/S5/S17/UB):

 

• the first two boots deserve(d) to get farther than the 9th and 4th placers
• the editing/BGM both seem less fun/urgent than during the end of the SD era
• three legs each without an RB is three too much
• the Save turns out to be the most trivial and moronic gimmick since the Hazard (and unlike the EP)
• the route suffers from somewhat homogenous destination-sequences that could've easily been fixed by switching the midgame course to

        (NYC -> Caribbean -> British Isles -> North Africa -> Scandinavia -> Mediterranean -> Malacca Strait -> Philippine Archipelago -> SoCal)

 

Fortunately, there's also the following:

 

• a trio of F/Fs who emerge as the three most rootable teams of the season by far
• the winner manages to overtake two overdog teams at the Final Memory Challenge, a first for the American edition (c.f. the ending of TARAUS2)
• the Emmy-submission episode and the one immediately before it are the greatest back-to-back legs since S21's two-hour finale
• iconic tasks abound, including not just everything in the aforementioned fourth and fifth legs, but also Detours such as Shetlandic torches, Sicilian opera, Maltese gostra, and Filipino pedicab-driving plus RBs like the puzzle-run, grotto-rappelling, and market-deliveries
• scenic locations compensate for a compressed route/course, i.e. the entire first half of the course except the sixth episode as well as the eighth leg
• even the Innertube Bonus Clips enrich the experience, e.g. the Sweet Scientists' mindfulness towards Londoners while racing there earned them the karma to triumph, the Cyclists' trash-talking of the Country Singers from "All-Stars 3" (quotes to indicate "in-name-only") would make even the dourest viewer laugh, the Flight Attendants' tears of joy as they recounted their love for the show at the second PitStop gave them a depth of character that even the broadcast couldn't quite manage, and the Realtors' lack of bitterness at getting eliminated first was refreshing to watch and even paid off in them getting to spend Sequesterville in WRP's favourite haunt, Europe's southwesternmost nation

[Donny Ketchum]

• the first two boots deserve(d) to get farther than the 9th and 4th placers

• the winner manages to overtake two overdog teams at the Final Memory Challenge, a first for the American edition (c.f. the ending of TARAUS2)

Yeah, if Lisa & Michelle and Dennis & Isabelle had gone farther than Michael & Scott and Brooke & Robbie, then it's very likely that TAR25 improves exponentially.

 

And no, that was actually the second time.  TAR21 also had an underdog team overtake two overdog teams at the final memory challenge.

[TheRabbi]

I found 25 to be a great season, and a breath of fresh air after the relative blandness of 23 and 24.  The cast was overall really good, though I could have done without the Survivor crossover.  And there was a real effort to reinvigorate the show, with the awesome public starting line and having Phil be out on the course with the racers.  Though some of the new elements didn't pan out.  For starters, as mentioned, the Save was just horrifically executed.  It should have been taken from the dentists in leg 4, or maybe add an element of suspense to it, such as having the team offer it only if they think they are last, and being eliminated if they didn't think they needed it.  Just something other than what was done.  Secondly, I hated the blind detours that carried over into 26. 

 

The tasks had a mixture of great (pancake race, the detour in Denmark, the second Morocco episode, Malta grotto), and terrible (painting the ceiling, twirling a tassel, the 'laps in a bike vs.playing basketball' detour, shining the armor).  Though I loved the winners, and there was a solid finale with a good memory challenge.  Hopefully season 27 is another step in the right direction after a clunker, just as 25 was good after the clunker of 24.

Edited September 8, 2015 by TheRabbi

[Vyas]

And no, that was actually the second time.  TAR21 also had an underdog team overtake two overdog teams at the final memory challenge.

Neither Trey/Lexi nor Jaymes/James won five legs in a row, much less contain a teammate whose personality was as fun-to-hate as the one with the same surname as the host of TARCAN, i.e. the male spiritual predecessor to S23 Marie (with Tim equating to Steve as the happy-go-lucky oaf sidekick).

 

The cops also managed to gain at least one prize before the finale unlike the farmers.

 

It goes without saying that TARAUS2's 3rd placers were the original Hockey Olympians - besting even the BQs' record - with a dash of twinning zaniness a la Liz/Marie unfortunately diluted by being part of the same cast as Lucy/Emilia (as well as being followed too soon by the RTV debut of the SJdS crossovers).

[green]

Last season -- hell on earth aka The Dating Game Crossover Edition -- was the worst ever.  Hopefully this new one will be better cause there is only up from rock bottom.  Please please please let there be no dating couples on this show ever again.   Period.

[cooksdelight]

I hope to NEVER again hear Phil ask "Is there a love connection going on here?" *raised eyebrow*

[Donny Ketchum]

I had a much better cast for TAR11 on the TWOP boards at some point.  Which got Ken (of & Gerard) to friend me on Facebook.  Think I ended up with:

 

Guido (TAR1)

Kevin and Drew (TAR1)

Momily (TAR1) (I think Nancy hadn't become ill by this point, anyway, but we're also wishing away health issues)

Cha Cha Cha (TAR2)

Bald Snark (TAR3)

Wonder Twins (TAR3)

Bowling Moms (TAR5)

Kris and Jon (TAR6)

Rob and Amber (TAR7) (Sue me, I enjoy his schtick in 5 of his 6 seasons)

Bill and Tammy Gaghan (TAR8)

The BQs (TAR10)

 

3 F/F, 4 M/M, 3 couples

That's actually . . . five men's teams, @enlightenedbum.  Way too many.

[green]

I didn't start watching until the Globetrotters first season. I just discovered I can watch previous seasons on Amazon, so have been binge watching. I really liked the first 3 seasons. I am watching season 4, and it is by far my least favorite. The clowns are the only likable team. And I am shocked and disappointed that tptb would force female contestants into a situation where they would almost certainly be sexually assaulted. Indian public transportation has long been notorious for sexual assault. Only in the past couple years has it gotten wider attention, but it was well known by seasoned travellers for years, and never should have been allowed to happen.

 

Glad to hear you are enjoying the earlier seasons aka TAR Classic.  Yeah TAR4 was pretty bad outside of the Clowns.  Way too many mactors.  Hopefully you survived it to see TAR5 with one of the more entertaining casts ever though alas the cast covered up the beginnings of all the endless artificial bumps, u-turns, stops, sputters, whatever they would trot out since then.  And the end of when the FF was a great race concept and not a non-strategic bore like it has become these days. 

 

TAR5, along with the first three seasons, are my top four of all times by miles and miles.  Back then they still knew it was the AMAZING race and not the amazing RACE.  You also felt like you got to know the Racers some as it wasn't wall to wall over-the-top pounding music drowning out half their conversation trying to create fake cliff-hanging drama.  Instead it had the feel of a magnificent quest of a lifetime where, unfortunately, some of the members of the Fellowship of the Race would fall by the wayside.  The "villains" were just folks too with someting sneaky or enough slightly underhanded incidents to make them into villains.  Not cardboard cutouts.  The mactor count was somewhat lower.  So glad newer viewers have access to old school TAR.

Edited September 22, 2015 by green

[LuLu123]

Profuse apologies if this isn't the appropriate thread, but I just read this and feel absolutely sick to my stomach.  I remember Gus and Hera from their season and had no idea any of this happened.  Major Trigger Warning...

 

Buzzfeed Article on the McLeod Family Tragedy

 

[biakbiak]

Omg I had heard about her son's death but not the other parts that led to it. That absolutely horrifying.

[hendersonrocks]

Holy shit. I've seen this story circulate over the last few days and hadn't read it yet to see the horrifying details - I had no idea Hera was involved or that her little boy was killed. She and I have a couple of friends in common...I cannot imagine what their family has been through (and sadly, will keep going through with the trial to come).

[green]

Oh man that is awful.  Gus & Hera were my favorite Season 6 racers and I remember a post she made on a site once where she coined the original word "mactors" after her Race.  I always felt she and her dad were two of the nicest and most intelligent racers ever.

 

That guy sounds like a real life Svengali to have fooled Hera in the beginning.  But then he totally mesmerized the cops who fell over backwards doing his bidding.  They are just as much responsible for the death of her son as he was from my pov.  And the way they treated her sister Laura after she was raped.  Man no wonder women never want to report rape.  And she didn't even; the cops forced her to and then arrested her for it.

 

If this can happen to the well-educated, middle class family of a former career CIA man I can just imagine what happens to the poor and disadvantaged.  I mean it took Hera $50,000 of lawyers and legal fees to get her name cleared what to speak of the cops leaking out Laura's all over including her college at the time with those false charges.  Always blame the victim.  And it wasn't some rural area under ISIS enforced Shira law where these women were treated this way.  It was in the good old USA.  Makes you sick to your stomach.

 

I thank these two women for speaking up now.  I'm sure they didn't want this stuff plastered all over the place but once Laura was set-up all over the internet (hmmm, cops said Joaquin was very tech savvy too) they had no choice. 

 

Hera, if you ever read this or the comments left on that article's site, know we all behind you and your sister.  Unfortunately we are pretty powerless too.  But there is strength in numbers.  May you and your sister's and son's stories help fuel a movement to stop this very very "common" thing from happening over and over again.  Cause one of the scariest things about this article is that this stuff is routine and not some sad and horrible anomaly.  The whole system is wrong.

[ProfCrash]

The Washington Post has a series of articles about Hera but this is the first time I have heard about the rape.

[Midnight Cheese]

I am so horrified and sickened by this story.  I have been binge-watching old seasons on Hulu and I loved Hera and Gus (Hera in particular) during the original airing and it only increased.  She is a beautiful, compassionate, intelligent, gracious woman, and I can't believe this, and that she had her son taken from her.  I want to cry reading this. 

 

Hera also has a blog, which I found by Googling just now.  She had a little girl a year after losing her son:  http://cappuccinoqueen.com/?p=990

[Midnight Cheese]

I am still watching lots of old episodes on Hulu - sick at home with my kiddo.  I would love to see the following racers again, either because I loved watching them, or because I think they would be incredible with a second crack at things:

- Kevin and Drew

- Danny and Oswald

- Ken and Gerard

- Bowling Moms

- Lena and Kristy

- JVJ

- Wanda and Desiree

- Nat and Kat

- Chip and Kim (I'd love to see her attack a bunch of Roadblocks!)

- Kris and Jon

- Tammy and Victor

- Justin and Zev

- the Gaghans from TAR: Family Edition, especially Tammy and Carissa

- Kisha and Jen

 

My least favorite teams ever were both from season 9 -- while s. 6's Jonathan and Victoria and Freddy and Kkkendra suck in all of the obvious ways, I absolutely loathe BJ & Tyler and Fran & Barry, and I also think Cindy in particular of Ernie and Cindy (TAR 19) is a nasty piece of work.  They are each shitbags.  Fly-attracting sacks of excrement.  Arrogant and not that special and hardly intellectual powerhouses.  Haaaaaate 4eva. 

 

What I think is so funny about BJ, Tyler and Cindy in particular, is that they held themselves out as being particularly smart/studious/brilliant when we have Tammy, Victor, Nat and Kat in the winner's circle (and Amy and Maya too -- and I like them so much, too) -- each of whom has considerably more impressive professional credentials and schooling if you count that stuff as important -- and BJ/Cindy/Tyler CLEARLY did.  And Nat/Kat/Tammy/Victor each had more genuine personalities and more obvious decency than chucklefucks BJ, Tyler and Cindy.  Shouldn't your most significant intellectual accomplishment be something besides "my treacly video application almost but didn't get me into Stanford?"  #justsaying

 

I feel genuine pity for any romantic partner of the Hippies, who bring fakeness to a scary place.  BJ in particular has an obvious core of anger, and I'm convinced not a little misogyny animating him, and nope, not kidding.   **Especially if you look back at season 9 -- both Hippie motherfuckers were very, VERY deliberately grabby with Monica (Joseph/Monica - they fought a fair amount, and Monica was a very pretty blonde) after doing a messy fish-based Detour.  The "Frat Boys" - whose idiot moniker comes courtesy of brain trust BJ & Tyler, even though Eric/Jeremy met at community college, and never referenced actually being in a place with actual fraternities - never did that.  They might have been a little smarmy, but isn't that better than being arrogant, mocking and fucking handsy?  There is almost nothing worse than a not-that-smart man who thinks he's an intellectual, and who feels like after his more awkward teen years, women should be all into his nonsense now. 

Edited October 2, 2015 by Midnight Cheese

[Sayla Vee]

It was discontinued (like most regular primetime programs at that time) for a while, then resumed (episode 2 aired on September 19, according to Miss Alli's TWoP recap).

 

Oh, wow, I really didn't remember it coming back that soon.  Thanks for the correction.  It seemed a lot longer than that before regular programming returned.  Maybe because in the NYC area, everyone was consumed with cleaning up, etc.  I guess I'm so mixed up with the timing as all that ever seemed to be on TV (once the stations got up & running again) were WTC events.  Also, days seemed very long for me as I was so busy collecting supplies and taking them into downtown NYC by boat.   I do remember that David Letterman was the first to appear on air on 17 Sep, 

 

I think I must not have watched it then because we didn't even have all of the memorials for our townsfolk by then.  Also, when I started to watch, I saw the first episode all over again.  Was it repeated as a series a little later that year of into the next year?  Or am I just more senile than I know?

[fishcakes]

Also, when I started to watch, I saw the first episode all over again.  Was it repeated as a series a little later that year of into the next year?  Or am I just more senile than I know?

 

I don't think they ran the whole series twice, but I vaguely remember that they reran the first episode before resuming with the second one. According to IMDb, the first episode ran on September 5 and the second on September 19. I think they might have rerun episode 1 on the 19th as well and done it as a two-hour block? I really can't remember now how they did it, but I'm pretty sure you're right that the first episode aired twice.

[Rinaldo]

I think I must not have watched it then because we didn't even have all of the memorials for our townsfolk by then.  Also, when I started to watch, I saw the first episode all over again.  Was it repeated as a series a little later that year of into the next year?  Or am I just more senile than I know?

I too remember Episode 1 being repeated before Episode 2 was shown, but I have no hard evidence to back that up. (It seems to me that I was sorry I hadn't videotaped the first airing and was glad to have a second chance, but it was a long time ago.) Reality series were relatively new then and uncertain what to do in this situation, with continuity interrupted. I remember that The Mole did stop altogether after 3 episodes, then started over from the beginning the following June.

[Shadow Wave]

I too remember Episode 1 being repeated before Episode 2 was shown, but I have no hard evidence to back that up. (It seems to me that I was sorry I hadn't videotaped the first airing and was glad to have a second chance, but it was a long time ago.) Reality series were relatively new then and uncertain what to do in this situation, with continuity interrupted. I remember that The Mole did stop altogether after 3 episodes, then started over from the beginning the following June.

That's also what I remember. Wikipedia says that TAR premiered in the same timeslot as NBC's Lost, where they parachuted three people in the middle of nowhere and let them find their way back to a finish line. Lost wasn't very good, although we didn't know it at the time. I think I watched TAR and taped Lost, but maybe it was the other way around.

 

The difference between the two shows was striking. After all this time Songwe Village seems like yesterday.

[green]

I too remember Episode 1 being repeated before Episode 2 was shown, but I have no hard evidence to back that up. (It seems to me that I was sorry I hadn't videotaped the first airing and was glad to have a second chance, but it was a long time ago.) Reality series were relatively new then and uncertain what to do in this situation, with continuity interrupted. I remember that The Mole did stop altogether after 3 episodes, then started over from the beginning the following June.

 

Okay I hope the mods allow this OT reply since the thread isn't some mega-long monster thread.

 

I googled up TAR1 airdates and only got this airtime broadcast schedule for the show:

 

Episode 1 - 9/5/01

Episode 2 - 9/19/01

... ends on -

Episode 13 - 12/13/01

 

Source (scroll half way down page for the schedule):  http://amazingrace.wikia.com/wiki/The_Amazing_Race_1

 

Unless Episode 1 was re-broadcast on 9/12/01 I would say it was not re-broadcast.  And again I remember chatter on the internet as to why it wasn't re-broadcast back in the day.   As well as the show not coming back right away with indications CBS was having second thoughts about broadcasting it at all given the rampant growing "phobia" that the whole world was out to "get" America back then.  Again I could be wrong but endless googling turned up no indication of any re-braodcast including TV Guide archives etc.

 

Sorry again for the OT but everyone loves a good mystery and anyone wanting to help figure it out, well this is all I got.

Edited October 13, 2015 by green

[kassygreene]

I seem to remember TAR s1e1 being repeated too, but I guarantee it was not on September 12.  In fact I'm pretty sure it was still wall-to-wall news.  

 

I think it may have been repeated right before the broadcast of episode 2 on the 19th.  I seem to remember the reasoning was that in the intervening two weeks all of THAT had happened, and re-broadcasting would both remind people of what the show was, and provide a brief and gentle escape... 

[green]

^  Yeah you are totally right.  9/12 wouldn't have had a broadcast for sure.

 

As much as people say they remember a re-broadcast I remember there NOT being a re-broadcast; only online discussion that there should be a re-broadcast and disappointment that there wasn't.  And if there were two episodes broadscast on 9/19 that would mean they would have had to pre-empting another CBS show that night too which I think unlikly.  So I just don't see that it was ever re-broadcast.

 

Again, happy to be proved wrong but unless someone can come up with some concrete evidence online or from the production company or CBS itself that the episode was re-broadcast; I just can't believe it was.  Guess I'm from coming from a cyber version of "I'm from Missouri.  Show me" on this one.

 

Anyway love to be proved wrong.  I'm not invested in a "non-re-broadcast" point for any reason.  I just don't see any evidence so far to indicate it was.

 

I mean I know the first few episodes of TAR2 were repeated on what I think was a CBS-owned cable network back then since I had those physically on VHS tape for years and years.  Maybe it was possible they used that secondary cable channel for a re-broadcast of TAR1.01.  But again I see no proof online of that either.  (Too bad I can't remember that network now since the old VHS tapes were thrown out when I bought TAR2 on DVD).

Edited October 14, 2015 by green

[fishcakes]

As far as I know, there are no online sources that list the air dates of any rebroadcast. Shows are rerun all the time, but there's no record of it. A few of us here remember episode 1 being rerun before episode 2, and that's good enough for me.

[anhydrite]

I'm going to change the subject entirely if y'all don't mind :P

 

With Justin the Superfan running the Race this season, it makes me wonder how many other superfans have run the Race in the past years. Excluding Justin, the only other ones I remember are Gary and Will from TAR21(?) and Jordan (of Dan and Jordan) from TAR16. Have there been other ones that I'm forgetting at the moment?

[SnideAsides]

I have my own problems with the term (more specifically, how it usually winds up being used as an excuse for bad casting to help justify casting G-list recruits) and it makes no sense to even really use it before about season ten at the earliest, but Meghan and Cheyne from TAR15 were called superfans a few times.

[Vyas]

With Justin the Superfan running the Race this season, it makes me wonder how many other superfans have run the Race in the past years. Excluding Justin, the only other ones I remember are Gary and Will from TAR21(?) and Jordan (of Dan and Jordan) from TAR16. Have there been other ones that I'm forgetting at the moment?

 

The most recent are probably Dennis/Isabelle and Shelley/Nici of S25.

[green]

As far as I know, there are no online sources that list the air dates of any rebroadcast. Shows are rerun all the time, but there's no record of it. A few of us here remember episode 1 being rerun before episode 2, and that's good enough for me.

 

Now my remembering may be wrong too, but it may be right as well.  And it is linked into strong memories of online discussions at the time asking why the first episode wasn't rebroadcast.  So we will have to agree to disagree since I strongly remember it was not rebroadcast and can find no evidence to the contary though I have been looking for it.  You would think a TV shedule from a newspaper or old TV Guide for 9/19/01 would tell the story but haven't found one yet online.

 

If anyone can find something I'd love to see their findings posted here.  I know it isn't a big deal per se but I like to find out the facts and not just take someone saying they think they remembered something from 14 years back as fact ... including my own memory.

 

I just am posting one last time about it this time, barring finding some new online info, because I always think of hardcore TAR fans as being detective types and that someone will find something out about all this.  So just trying to encorage others into looking and maybe thinking of different sources to check than what I could come up with.

Edited October 15, 2015 by green

[Bella]

Another element in the rebroadcast mystery might involve individual markets and time zones. The stations are pretty uniform across prime time, but not always, and it used to be looser than it is now.

 

So perhaps (this is totally a guess) CBS suggested that Ep. 1 be rebroadcast, which was done in some markets but not all of them. Maybe.

[green]

Another element in the rebroadcast mystery might involve individual markets and time zones. The stations are pretty uniform across prime time, but not always, and it used to be looser than it is now.

 

So perhaps (this is totally a guess) CBS suggested that Ep. 1 be rebroadcast, which was done in some markets but not all of them. Maybe.

 

Well it would have been nice and creative if CBS had taken that approach.  And I don't want to always sound like a negative destroyer or worlds type.  So maybe at one or two AM they could have fit it in.  But I don't think an individual affliate can ever re-broadcast a network episode on it's own.  It's not their property and don't own the rights to it.

 

And I'm pretty sure individual affliates can't even keep a "copy" of network shows.  The network alone broadcasts their material "live" to the individual time zones (with the eastern and central broadcast combined thus the "8 PM eastern, 7 PM central promos" etc you often see) and is then re-broadcast along to viewers by affliates in basically real time.  (If affliates had physical copies of episodes the central time zone would broadcast at times matching the eastern and pacific times after all).  

 

I do think a copy may exist for a very short time in the station's re-transmission bank set-up and so when something is interrupted for breaking local news you sometimes get a re-broadcast after the local late night fare.  But no way does any network allow an affliate to keep whole episodes in their possesion for very long.  Especially back then when they were if anything far more strick then they are now due to their ability to pretty much totally control their material more tehn than in this era dominated by bit torrents as well as online sites like hulu etc.

 

Unless CBS re-broadcast a temporary copy for local stations to re-broadcast in non-prime time I don't see it happening since so much time passed passed before teh networks went back to "entertainment" after 9/11 so I can't see them having a copy onsite at a local affliate.  Which means CBS would have to downlink the episode through expensive satellite feed all over again.  There were a ton of shows that missed a week because of 9/11.  I don't see TAR getting special attention nor all the money and effort needed to find commercial sponsers as well as to downlink TAR's first episode to replay while an affiliate's viewers are mainly asleep.

 

And I can't think of any way it was re-broadcast in prime time because of the need to pre-empty another CBS show in primetime for a 2-hour block.  Those other shows were first run having just premiered too and the ads were already sold for their broadcasts.  9/11 already made a mess of the ad revenue stream for the networks.  They weren't going to lose more money by putting up a "repeat" instead of another show's new material they were also under legal contract to broadcast.  And back then there wasn't the endless skip-a-week in the middle of the new season stuff for a repeat you get these days.

 

Now I could see a prime time re-broadcast if the second episode's airdate read a week later but it doesn't.  That too me is the nearest thing to a smoking gun here.  And the last episode was broadcast right before Christmas week which was why I added it's date to the post with the dates in them.  Networks always run a lot of holiday specials during that week (and the ad space in them would have already been sold in advance plus legal contracts lock their dates in place) plus people are traveling etc so CBS wouldn't want the big finale of their new show broadcast that week.  So there wasn't an extra open week to use at that point.

 

I just think the numbers, need of other shows to broadcast their new material (and contracts between their production companies and the network for same) and ad revenue/contracts just seem to say that the network probably never considered re-broadcasting the first episode for business nuts and bolts reasons.  At least on their network and in prime time.  And no evidence so far that it was re-broadcast elsewhere and/or not in prime time.

[SnideAsides]

But no way does any network allow an affliate to keep whole episodes in their possesion for very long.

In theory. In actuality, something like 100 lost 1960s episodes of Doctor Who were recovered by searching archives of broadcasters who were supposed to destroy the tapes after the original broadcast.

 

Also, bear in mind the first episode pretty much opens with a shot of the Twin Towers. So maybe CBS did suggest to rerun the episode, but made another option available in case a station decided it would be in poor taste. (Like, say, the New York affiliate.)

[Rinaldo]

You would think a TV shedule from a newspaper or old TV Guide for 9/19/01 would tell the story but haven't found one yet online.

I have no additional evidence on this discussion (I'm of the party that remembers a rebroadcast of episode 1, but I won't be shocked if my memory is proved faulty)... but I would say that the absence of an indication in TV Guide doesn't prove anything one way or the other. A printed weekly TV magazine had to be finalized well in advance -- it arrived during the previous week, and final proofs had to be approved before that. Even in non-emergency times there were all kinds of little discrepancies when a failing series would be pulled from the schedule suddenly, but the TV Guide still listed it. Obviously none of the changed programming right after 9/11 would be reflected in print. After a couple of weeks it would be a bit different, but decisions were still being made day-to-day by networks, including the whole question of when it could be considered respectful to return to regular entertainment programming.

 

Maybe, as suggested above, a local newspaper listing could be more accurate, but even there it's not a sure thing; TV info for print comes from national sources, and new decisions were constantly being made. Considered objectively, it's an interesting research problem.

[green]

I have no additional evidence on this discussion (I'm of the party that remembers a rebroadcast of episode 1, but I won't be shocked if my memory is proved faulty)... but I would say that the absence of an indication in TV Guide doesn't prove anything one way or the other. A printed weekly TV magazine had to be finalized well in advance -- it arrived during the previous week, and final proofs had to be approved before that. Even in non-emergency times there were all kinds of little discrepancies when a failing series would be pulled from the schedule suddenly, but the TV Guide still listed it. Obviously none of the changed programming right after 9/11 would be reflected in print. After a couple of weeks it would be a bit different, but decisions were still being made day-to-day by networks, including the whole question of when it could be considered respectful to return to regular entertainment programming.

 

Maybe, as suggested above, a local newspaper listing could be more accurate, but even there it's not a sure thing; TV info for print comes from national sources, and new decisions were constantly being made. Considered objectively, it's an interesting research problem.

 

Really good point about TV Guide etc.  Perhaps the only way of finding out is to ask TAR's producers or people with the show back in the 2001.  And I certaily don't have any contacts with anyone like that. 

 

And yeah that's why I keep posting about this cause I finding it interesting research.  I'm kind of a history buff so any history, even a TV show's broadcast schedule from 14 years back, gets me going.  I'm fascinated at how it's so hard in the information age where everything seems to get archived, to find out the answer to this simple question about something that happened (or not) on a national network a mere 14 years back.  And then I sit back and think about all the things that must have been happening in history 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 years ago we never heard about and will never know about because I'm weird that way.  :-)

 

SnideAsides, wasn't that in England.  Maybe the BBC wasn't as interested in guarding their bottom line and rights as much as CBS because who would screw over the BBC back in the 60's?  More like some little old janitor shoved some tapes into some storage closet and they were forgotten perhaps?  Not ever rebroadcast though.  BTW was that how the handful of Patrick Troughton episodes were recovered?  He looked like such an interesting Doctor and I saw him once at a PBS Doctor Who convention.  Guy was funny as anything.

Edited October 16, 2015 by green

[kassygreene]

The DW episodes (and episodes of scads of series) were "lost" because the tapes were recycled.  They were very expensive, the ability to re-broadcast for decades in the future was really not part of any television network's paradigm, and as noted above, the source for missing episodes over the last 30 years or more is randomly discovered, mostly illegally retained, tapes of varying quality.  DW episodes have been recovered from all over the world.

[TheRabbi]

No idea if this is the appropriate place to discuss this, but Brian Kleinschmidt was on Shark Tank tonight.  I recognized him immediately since I've been keeping up with the Amazon DVD releases.  He raced in season 15 with his then-wife Erica (the former Miss America winner, these two were the first bi-racial couple on the show).

 

Those two have long since divorced, and he gave a brief history of himself saying he lost all his money in the housing crisis, but regained his financial security opening up some gyms in the Tampa area since.  He had a rather dreadful looking potty-training invention on the show, and was unsuccessful making deals with any sharks.

[urbandecay]

The first episode of season one was repeated on September 9.

 

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/cbs-repeat-race-premiere-sunday-9-9-2001--229.php

[green]

The first episode of season one was repeated on September 9.

 

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/cbs-repeat-race-premiere-sunday-9-9-2001--229.php

 

Now that is interesting.  It was repeated but not AFTER 9/11 but just for the hope of getting more viewers on a different night.  So guess there was no post-9/11 repeat but a pre-9/11 one did occur.  Great research, thanks so very much!

[ljenkins782]

Just got around to rewatching Season 5 thanks to the CBS all access thing and I really have to wonder if the casting folks for that season got an award. They totally deserve one. 

 

I always remember the season for the immortal "my ox is broken" scene, but I'd forgotten how fun that whole season was. Mirna and Charla were so comical, I loved them trying to play an extra hand of blackjack at the casino stop or Mirna trying to dance extra at the tango club. They were completely obnoxious in so many ways, but also really fun to watch with their competition with the other teams. 

 

The twins were hilarious in their cluelessness and Brandon and Nicole were fun to watch as they unraveled here and there. (I started my rewatch toward the end and HATED Nicole, but going back the beginning, it seemed clear that she was just at her worst.) Overall, they were cute together. 

 

I loved that the bowling moms went so far and found Chip and Kim so entertaining and easy going the whole way, it was easy to enjoy their win.

[SnideAsides]

I think a large part of the success of TAR5 is in which teams lasted longer and which were booted earlier. If Marshall/Lance and Jim/Marsha switched their knee issues and got eliminated the other way around, that would have been the best possible boot order for that season. And the tasks... honestly aren't really that great in TAR5 (like, even the iconic ox task is exactly the same basic "find something buried in a mud pit" concept that was a Detour one whole leg earlier), so it really could have gone either way if the boot order wasn't that good.

 

For comparison, compare any other season with stuntcast Survivor/Big Brother players on it - 7 has the constant Romber obsession, 11 uses the same obsession to set the stage for a bunch of even less pleasant dick-measuring, 16 has Jordan/Jeff as one of the eleven teams who somehow all manage to outstay their welcome, 19 has two decade-old Survivor winners as an afterthought early-boot (which somehow suits the complete inconsequentiality of the season's role in TAR history), 20 presents Brenchel as the crown in the absolute worst final four this show has ever or will ever produce, and 24 then presents them as the best option in a sea of assholes from about halfway through the season onwards. (As much as the current season is clearly going to go down as Not One Of The Greats, we can all be thankful that three separate BB16 cast members were apparently cut at the last minute.)

[TheRabbi]

Interesting that more big brother contestants were last minute snubs. Maybe CBS finally relented and finally gave us one season with almost all unknowns. Won't last for long though, as RFF says season 28 will have more nasty surprises, though won't elaborate on details.

[Vyas]

Ahem, S25's widespread appeal was due in no small part to the crushing of the South Pacific crossovers by #TeamMomDaughter*, i.e. the proper complement to BB4's runner-up, her putito, and their "implocion" a decade earlier.

 

* There's no accounting for the Emmy committee's lack of taste, re: bribe(s) by Carson Daly, extortion at the hands of Mark Burnett, etc.

 

Interesting that more big brother contestants were last minute snubs.

 

 

 

There you go.

Some people might think it's a whole lot of nothing because they're not racing. I happen to disagree. I think it's spoiler-worthy cause they were cast for this season, and at the very least it's interesting to hear about an attempted stunt casting involving past BB16 HGs that ended up flopping and why. I don't see much else being discussed here right now anyway, so who gives a shit.

And for the record, after Frankie turned it down, the spot was offered to Cody first. He also declined to race with Zach, so Devin was next on the list.

 

[auntlada]

Ahem, S25's widespread appeal was due in no small part to the crushing of the South Pacific crossovers by #TeamMomDaughter*, i.e. the proper complement to BB4's runner-up, her putito, and their "implocion" a decade earlier.

 

* There's no accounting for the Emmy committee's lack of taste, re: bribe(s) by Carson Daly, extortion at the hands of Mark Burnett, etc.

What? Who is TeamMomDaughter? Who or what are the South Pacific crossovers? What do Carson Daly and Mark Burnett have to do with TAR?

[Vyas]

What? Who is TeamMomDaughter? Who or what are the South Pacific crossovers? What do Carson Daly and Mark Burnett have to do with TAR?

 

1. Shelley and Nici, the Flight Attendants in orange
2. Keith and Whitney, the Survivor jurors in yellow
3. Personal conspiracy theories as to why The Voice won "Best Reality Show" instead of the finest submission since the S14 premiere a.k.a. the original Swiss Cheese Hill episode. 

[Lingo]

I'm going to change the subject entirely if y'all don't mind :P

 

With Justin the Superfan running the Race this season, it makes me wonder how many other superfans have run the Race in the past years. Excluding Justin, the only other ones I remember are Gary and Will from TAR21(?) and Jordan (of Dan and Jordan) from TAR16. Have there been other ones that I'm forgetting at the moment?

 

Well, what counts as a "superfan"? I think a lot of big fans of the show have gotten on that we don't hear about on the show -- it often doesn't come up on the show if it's not plot-relevant. Kelsey from this season told Phil on the mat after Leg 1 that she's watched the show since it premiered (when she was 15). That one little person (I've already forgotten their names), he was clearly a big fan of the show too, and said he's been talking about getting on the show for years. Maya of the Candy Scientists was also clearly a big fan. Though I wouldn't call them "superfans", I think most of the "Blind Daters" from last season applied because they were fans, not because they actually were interested in the dating part.

 

No idea if this is the appropriate place to discuss this, but Brian Kleinschmidt was on Shark Tank tonight.  I recognized him immediately since I've been keeping up with the Amazon DVD releases.  He raced in season 15 with his then-wife Erica (the former Miss America winner, these two were the first bi-racial couple on the show).

 

Those two have long since divorced, ...

 

Aw, I'm sad to hear that. I was a big fan of their team.

[SnideAsides]

Ahem, S25's widespread appeal was due in no small part to the crushing of the South Pacific crossovers by #TeamMomDaughter*, i.e. the proper complement to BB4's runner-up, her putito, and their "implocion" a decade earlier.

I disagree enormously. I think TAR25 is an objectively terrible season (not one but three bad twists executed poorly, a promising island-locations theme buried by a sea of recycled tasks to celebrate the anniversary, the debut of the obnoxious and intrusive team hashtags) that has a good reputation mostly because the winners weren't terrible for the first time in a while and because people were determined to love whatever came after the universally-reviled TAR24.

[Vyas]

Then what is an objectively non-terrible (in the sense of "must-see RTV", not just "watchable at the bare minimum") TAR season?

 

The Save may have been a bust, yet both the "optional EP-hunt on the second leg" and "four teams in the finale" twists were influential enough to carry over to the third season of the Canadian edition and S26, respectively; the supposed archipelago theme is not only discredited by Morocco, but also ultimately irrelevant to the "city/digit combos on shipping containers" Finale Memory Challenge; and the Twitter-ification of the show is an inevitable outcome stemming from social media spillover ever since the BB15 fiasco two years prior.

 

Furthermore, people swore to embrace that which immediately followed the divisive Family and Blind Date Editions...until reality proved otherwise, of course. At the very least, S25 showed that there could be a crossover season nearly as worthy as ur-example S5.